Machine politics suburban style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at midcentury

The suburban electorate now represents the largest single bloc of voters. The politics of Nassau County (New York), just east of New York City, encompassed the operation of a moderate Republican party machine. Despite predictions that the New Deal spelled the demise of the political machine, Nassau, an exemplar of the "urban deconcentration" that spawned suburbia throughout the country, provided fertile ground for a party organization that rivaled its urban Democratic counterparts. The traditionally GOP county underwent a booming expansion during the midcentury decades, with an influx of new residents, many with Democratic party affiliations. In established villages and new housing developments such as Levittown, under the canny leadership of J. Russel Sprague, the party used patronage and community organizing techniques to build its base among ethnic voters, young people, and new homeowners. The party expanded beyond its white Protestant base, with Italian Americans becoming particularly prominent in party leadership. Sprague was both party leader and county executive. That post was created in 1936 under a new charter engineered by Sprague to update a municipal apparatus unable to meet the infrastructure and development needs of a county that by 1960 had 1.3 million residents. Democrats and reformers had promoted charter revision for decades, and some consolidation of government services did take place. As county "boss," Sprague ruled with an iron hand. Nassau's pluralities for such candidates as Governor Thomas E. Dewey and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Sprague's fundraising prowess made him a force in national party politics. He advocated a moderate, middle-of-the-road position that recognized expectations created by the New Deal while criticizing what were claimed to be Democratic excesses. After leaving elective office and party leadership, Sprague became a major campaign issue when the Democrats, in a 1961 historic upset, won the county executive post by both lambasting Sprague, tainted by a racetrack-stock scandal, and criticizing the developer-friendly "Spragueland" regime that had governed Nassau for decades. Soon after Sprague died in 1969, the Nassau GOP regained its control of the county government and reestablished virtual one-party rule until the 1990s.